Taï Chimpanzee Project (TCP)

Taï chimpanzees (P. t.verus) have been the subjects of behavioral research for over fourty years (founded in 1979 by Christophe and Hedwige Boesch). At present the project is following four habituated neighbouring communities totaling some 150 individuals. Each group is followed by a team of two Ivorian field assistants, international research assistants, PhD students and researchers on a daily basis. Local and international research staff has to comply to a strict hygienic protocol to prevent zoonotic disease transmission, which was developed in close collaboration with the Robert Koch Institute (Fabian Leendertz, Project Group Zoonoses). As part of the hygienic protocol staff go through three days of quarantine in the North camp before moving to the research camps. Having a permanent vet on site and using a field laboratory we are able to monitor the health status of staff and wildlife.

Research is conducted out of four research field camps (Barrage, South camp, East camp, North-East camp) from where teams start in the morning to conduct their nest to nest follows of the chimpanzees. Studies of the Taï population have led to insights into the construction and use of tools, cooperative hunting behavior, and many aspects of chimpanzee social life. More recently, comparisons of behavior patterns seen at Taï with those exhibited in other chimpanzee populations all over Africa have led to the recognition of chimpanzee culture, an attribute previously restricted to humans.

At present research conducted at TCP is using several different methodological approaches, principally behavioural observations, bio-banking of feces and urine, hormonal analysis from non-invasive sampling of urine and faeces, genetic analysis from non-invasive sampling of faeces and hair, cognition field experiments, video- and vocalisation-recording, remote video and audiorecording and monitoring.

Since 2012, we are also observing a group of mangabeys, which has an overlapping territory with the North group's home range. Comparing behaviour, physiology and cognition of mangabeys and chimpanzees under the same ecological condition will allow us to understand the differences between monkeys and apes.